Leaving his parents was proving to be just as hard as Kyle had expected and he wasn’t the only one, Hal was also struggling with the idea of living alone in a strange town. Sonia, on the other hand was much more relaxed bidding her guardian Thomas a cheerful goodbye, thanking him for looking after her for all these years and then going on say goodbye to Al and her friends’ parents before waiting patiently for thee others to finish their much more emotional farewells.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t going to miss the people who had looked after her for the past few years, in fact she was incredibly grateful towards them, but she also understood that saying goodbye was just another part of life.

Things for the other three weren’t as simple however as none of them had travelled as far as they would today and never without their parents there with them

It ended up taking them a whole half hour to finish saying goodbye with Emma making sure that Kyle had everything that he needed to take with him and Jerald spouting various pieces of advice almost constantly, much to his son’s embarrassment and even then Yuliah had to intervene, stating that she wanted to travel as much of the way to Greenhearth as possible in a single day so that they would only have to spend one night outside the safety of the walls.

Yuliah was the only one with a horse due to the amount of time she spent travelling around recruiting new students for the Adventurers School and she had promised to swap with Sonia if she got tired.

The horse pranced on the spot as she called out to the people she would be travelling back with.

“Come on! We’re burning daylight and trust me when I say that you guys don’t want to spend more than one night outside of a town at your Levels!”

“Alright, we’re coming,” Hal grumbled dragging himself from his mother’s embrace. Walking out of the gates the four kids turned back and waved goodbye to their families once more.

“Make sure you call us when you get there!” Emma shouted making Kyle roll his eyes, this was the seventh time she had reminded him in the past ten minutes.

“Sure mum!” he shouted back ignoring the snigger from Hal who then frowned when his mother made the same request.

Chuckling as Hal also had to go through the public embarrassment of telling his mother that he’ll make sure to keep in contact as well Kyle turned back to face Yuliah who was glaring at them he walked out towards her. His parents didn’t own a Communication Orb of their own, but Kyle’s parents had offered to let them borrow theirs when they wanted to.

“Oi!” Hal shouted upon turning around to see Kyle abandoning him. “Wait up mate.”

Walking out along the main road towards Greenhearth Yuliah started telling the three who were hoping to get into the Adventurers School exactly what would be waiting for them.

“Now as you know you’ve already passed the first part of the admission process,” Yuliah started. She was of course referring to the competition that had gone so horribly wrong.

Kyle grimaced at the reminder, it was hard to believe that all that had happened only two days ago.

“So, when we get to the school you will have a personal interview with the Director who will ask you what it is you want to get out of being a student at the school,” Yuliah continued ignoring the troubled looks on her charges faces. “And after that you will be asked to quickly give a guide as to how you want to develop your Class, the Skills and spells you wish to learn so that you can be put into the correct classes. There may be some things that will be recommended for you by some of the teachers and this is just a concept, it doesn’t matter if you change your mind later what matters is how well you understand what your current goals are.”

That was interesting, it was usually considered rude to ask someone about their Class and Stats but considering this school’s purpose it did make sense that they would have to know about the Class their students had so that you could teach them properly.

“Wait, so we just have to tell them what we want our Class to become when we reach Level 5?” Damian asked.

“Yes and no, we want you to think about the entirety of what you’re aiming for, something that we refer to as a ‘build.’”

“Why?” Hal asked.

“Like I said, this will affect the classes you end up taking if you get into the school, but it also shows us that you have a good understanding of how things like your Class, Skills and the magic you can use actually work.”

“What about the recommendations?” Kyle asked. This was the most interesting thing for him. His Class was called ‘unusual’ for a reason making it very hard to figure out what Skills he should obtain for the best improvements to his strength. If the teachers at the Adventurers School could give him any advice it would be useful.

“That was actually mostly for your benefit,” Yuliah replied with a nod. “You don’t know that much about your Racial Variant, do you?”

“Not really,” Kyle answered, he had no idea about so much to with his Racial Variant and he was sure that due to its heritage there was plenty that he didn’t want to know but learning more about himself was important, even if it was just so that he could avoid things like what happened when his Will Made Manifest Skill activated.

“That Skill that you unlocked was one thing, but there are others just as dangerous if you are unprepared to use them,” Yuliah sighed. “After all your people were born of cruelty so many of the Racial Skills reflect that nature.”

Her cold words caused Kyle to shudder, he hadn’t even considered the implications of how his Racial Variant came to be and it was quickly becoming clear to him the problems he was going to face in that future.

“Yuliah… have you had to fight someone like me?”

“That thing was nothing like you Kyle,” Yuliah snarled her face darkening as she remembered something unpleasant from the past. “But that doesn’t mean that it’s safe for you to unlock your Racial Skills without having more information.”

Kyle frowned, “I’m going to have a difficult time, aren’t I?” he realised.

“Probably,” Yuliah admitted. “Even though its been a long time since we were officially at war with the Empire, they have been known to perform raids on border towns and kidnap the non-humans they found as well as killing anyone who tried to stop them. Coronia is a nation mostly populated by humans, so we don’t get as many of those incidents as the other countries along their border, but we have a few foreign students, so I wouldn’t be surprised if people treat you poorly when you first get there.”

“Wait if they keep attacking why are we not still at war with them?” Hal asked trying to turn the subject away from the one that was bothering his friend. It had been bad enough that Kyle had to face that sort of prejudice in his own village and he would rather that his friend didn’t have to deal with it again when he didn’t have anything to do with what the other members of his Racial Variant may have done.

“It’s very hard to fight against people when you can’t actually enter their country” Yuliah replied vaguely then looked around at the bewildered looks on her charges faces.

“Very well, I will explain; at the end of the last war the allied countries that fought alongside us against the Empire had finally managed to push their armies back to the very border of their lands and then, one night what appeared to be a Zone started to form over the whole country. When our armies tried to penetrate this Zone they failed completely, even our most powerful mages couldn’t break through the massive purple dome and not long after, an army more massive than any we had ever seen marched out from behind it, all wearing Imperial Armour and they completely routed our armies, took as many prisoners as they could and retreated back into Imperial territory.”

However as one might expect this explanation only ended up adding to the list of questions that they had for her.

“Wait, how does that work?” Damian asked. “A Zone big enough to cover an entire country?”

“Well, we don’t know the answer to that,” Yuliah replied. “Nor do we know why only Imperials and their captives can enter it, sadly.”

“No idea at all?”

“Well there are some theories floating around, but nothing certain, or very pleasant to think about.”

Kyle blanched as he realised what she was suggesting, “The captives?”

“Well it’s certainly the obvious answer isn’t it?” Yuliah sighed causing the others to turn green as they realised what the other two were talking about. Being a Half-elf that subject was a particularly sore on for her and her body visibly shuddered as she thought about what things the Imperials could be doing to the people, they dragged back with them.

“But wait!” Sonia exclaimed realising that they were forgetting something important. “What about the massive army, where did that come from?”

“Well as you may know Dungeons not only warp space but time as well, some people think that time inside the Imperial borders is moving at a much faster pace than it is outside of them.”

“So, it might not be a Zone at all but some sort of artificial Dungeon?” Fi asked, she had been content to listen since people were asking the questions that she wanted answers to, but she decided to ask this one herself.

“It’s certainly a possibility but since we can’t enter it ourselves all we have is speculation.”

Everyone groaned at this answer which to them barely seemed to qualify as one, but it seemed that it was the best that they were going to get.

“I’m sorry I don’t have any better answers for you,” Yuliah said smiling for the first time since the conversation had turned to the Empire.

They continued walking for a few more hours but the topics of conversation were less interesting, mostly involving the facilities available in Greenhearth and the Adventurers School there which also served as the Adventurers Guild building in Greenhearth and had its own Blacksmithing workshop as well as facilities for every other form of Crafting Skill, a fully equipped training area that both the students and Adventurers could use and classrooms in which the students learned about the terms used by Adventurers and about the various spells, Skills and monsters that existed in this world of theirs.

“Well, it’s starting to get late, so we should probably start setting up camp for the night,” Yuliah sighed. Sonia had been the first to tire a couple of hours ago so as promised she had dismounted from her horse and was currently leading the animal due to Sonia’s lack of the Riding Skill, so she reached up behind Sonia and pulled a small pouch out of the saddlebags.

“Take this,” she said tossing it to Kyle who looked at it with a confused expression on his face. “It’s got the tents inside, go set them up.”

“Huh!?” Kyle exclaimed looking at the pouch which could easily be held with one hand. How could something this small contain enough tents for all five of them and the companions?

“It’s got a spatial Inscription on it,” Yuliah explained as she helped Sonia down from the horse. “There are three tents inside for you to set up.”

“I’ll help,” Hal offered.

“And I’ll go get some wood to make a fire with,” their resident Fire Mage decided seeing as making fires was his specialty.

“Then would you mind helping me set up the perimeter?” Yuliah asked Sonia.

“The perimeter?”

“Yes, there aren’t any walls here so although its unlikely that we’ll be attacked by monsters it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Yuliah replied pulling another cloth pouch out of her horse saddlebags.

Kyle frowned at her words, his father hadn’t done anything like that but Yuliah only chuckled when she saw the look on his face.

“Please don’t compare your father than I,” she requested. “He may be powerful enough to scare away monsters without even trying but I’m not.”

“…Sorry.”

Seeing the embarrassed look on his face Yuliah laughed again. “It’s fine, you’re used to dealing with people at their level of power, so I’m not surprised that your worldview’s a bit different from most people’s.”

Kyle nodded and opened the small pouch in his hand, and reached in, marvelling at the usefulness of such an item as he grabbed one of three packages he could feel inside and pulled it out.

Once Kyle and Hal had the tents set up Damian had already lit a small campfire and was watching as Sonia and Yuliah walked around the camp adjusting the position of small pieces of wood that each had an intricate pattern inscribed into them, supposedly these were magical tools that would prevent monsters from finding and attacking them while they slept.

Seeing the fire Hal immediately pulled something out of his backpack and tossed it in the fire and soon a loud yawn could be heard over the crackling of the flames as Herman poked his head out and greeted them.

“You really need to get a Level up so that he can unlock an ability that’ll allow him to be useful outside of a forge, don’t you?” Kyle remarked to his friend who started grumbling.

“He’s certainly an odd one,” remarked Damian who then frowned.

“Not that Lenny’s any different really I suppose,” he sighed referring to his own companion who looked like an ordinary hedgehog and could also be termed that way having spent most of the day in a pocket of his bag asleep himself, though in his case this was due to laziness unlike Herman who acted that way due to his body’s heat requirements.

Once she was done setting up the camp’s perimeter Yuliah told them that she was going to start making dinner, so they were free to do whatever they wanted until it was done just so long as they didn’t leave the safety of the campsite.

After conferring for a bit Kyle and Hal decided that they’d have a quick sparring session which was something they hadn’t done since getting their Classes causing Sonia to roll her eyes as their natural competitiveness started to come out again.

Kyle and Hal both had the Unarmed Combat Skill which due to Kyle not having a weapon Skill until a few days ago was what they often used in these sparring matches, they didn’t even use the Sub-skills that they had learned just using their stats and natural fighting abilities to test one another.

The way they fought was very different due to the differences between their stats and these differences had only continued to grow after they had received their Classes. Hal’s Class was simply known as Blacksmith and was an Uncommon Class that primarily increased Strength and Endurance with a small boost to constitution, so he used a very aggressive fighting style. Each one of his punches were powerful enough to break the bones of an ordinary person and Kyle with his Agility and Dexterity based Class was no exception to this so he had no choice but to use his speed to avoid the powerful swing and strike back with multiple fast strikes which simply weren’t very effective against the powerful body of his friend. In the end Hal had to admit defeat as Kyle had beaten his arms until he was no longer able to raise them, essentially putting him out of the fight.

“Don’t worry about it mate,” Kyle assured him, seeing the put out look on Hal’s face. “I’ve got a whole Level’s worth of Stats over you, so it wasn’t a very fair fight anyway.”

“Yeah, I know,” Hal sighed. “It’s just that only a few days ago we were pretty much even if we didn’t use magic or special attacks.”

“Like I said man; don’t worry about it, you’ll Level up soon enough and we’ll be back on even footing,” Kyle laughed.

“Alright you two,” sighed Yuliah who had been watching them beat each other up with an irritated look on her face. “Get over here so I can heal you.”

“Ok.”

After Yuliah had finished healing them she served dinner and they started talking again.

“Hal, if you’re so good with your hammer why do you have the Unarmed Combat Skill as well,” Damian asked.

“Because if I didn’t I wold be pretty much defenceless if I lost my hammer,” Hal replied.

“Most Adventurers learn Unarmed Combat for that exact reason,” Yuliah chimed in. “Even the mages.”

“Really?” asked Damian.

“Denzel probably didn’t teach you this because he was training you to be a Guard not an Adventurer, mages who work for the Guards usually provide support from the walls of the town they’re protecting so they don’t have to deal with enemies up close,” Yuliah explained.

“Oh, that, makes sense, I guess. Does that mean that I’ll be learning Unarmed Combat at the Adventurers School if I get in?”

Yuliah nodded, “It’s required for all spellcasting students to learn at least one form of melee combat and that’s the most common because you don’t have to carry around a weapon that you don’t usually use.

“Even though my Stats aren’t suited to physical combat?”

“A spellcaster who knows some form of melee combat has a much higher survival rate than someone who doesn’t,” Yuliah replied with a shrug. “Besides learning a Skill like that can unlock different Classes that you wouldn’t be able to choose otherwise.”

“Why is that so important?” Damian asked.

“Everyone else here knows Mana Manipulation, right?”

‘Yeah.”

“So, they’ve probably already reached some of the requirements for Tier 2 Classes that can use both magic and fight with weapons, which means that the Stats that they’ll receive will reflect that,” Yuliah explained. “While it is possible for a Tier 2 with a pure magic Class to hold their own against someone with a Class that can use both magic and weapons it’s not easy and it’ll only get harder.”

“So, you’re saying that variety is important?”

“Yes and no, you have to be careful to pick Skills that are going to be compatible with your fighting style same as anyone else and you’re probably never going to be as good at fighting without magic as someone who specialises in that but if a mage has a way of fighting that doesn’t require magic they’re a lot more likely to survive.”

“Ok, can you guys tech me the basics,” Damian requested turning towards Kyle and Hal who had been listening in on the conversation with great interest.

“Sure, why not?” Kyle replied. He still wasn’t sure he trusted Damian, but he would rather have him as a friend than an enemy.

So, he and Hal spent an hour teaching Damian how to fight, much to the amusement of the others.

“Thanks, you two,” gasped Damian who collapsed to the ground panting when Yuliah called to an end to the lesson because it was getting too dark. The young mage clearly wasn’t very used to as much physical exertion as the other two who looked just as fresh as when they started.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kyle laughed. “Teaching like this raises the Skill faster than normal practice anyway so it’s not like we didn’t get anything out of it.”

The happy mood continued until Yuliah decided that it was time for them to go to bed.

“I want to be at Greenhearth by midday, so we should get an early night.”

The next morning, they got up and broke quickly had breakfast before breaking camp, they were all excited to finally arrive at Greenhearth and they soon spotted something on the horizon.

“What the…” Hal gasped.

“To think that this is what they looked like,” murmured Kyle as they all stared at the strange sight.

What they could see was not Greenhearth but a massive city of destroyed buildings. Though they were in ruins now, it was obvious how impressive they must have been before they had been destroyed.

This ruined city was the upper level of the Dungeon that Greenhearth had been built next to and it was because of this that it was the site of the Adventurer School and a town that Adventurers flocked to.

“Yuliah, what city was this before the System?” Kyle asked as he looked at the grey monoliths that even in their ruined state would have towered over Al’s inn which was the largest building in Farholt. It even looked like some of the larger structures that they could see could fit multiple versions of the inn inside of them.

“Apparently it was a human city called Auckland,” Yuliah replied, shaking her head. “We know it was a human city because of the language that various signs that have been discovered around the city were written in. We were able to determine the name of the city in part thanks to these signs as well as documents found in some of the buildings. It wasn’t actually that large a city back before the System destroyed it but it’s still quite impressive to us isn’t it?”

“This isn’t big!?” Sonia gasped.

“Not really,” Yuliah said. “Before the System humans had cities large enough that tens of millions of people could live in them.”

“Millions…”

To them this was a truly unimaginable number of people to have gathered in one place, even the capital city of Coronia only had a population of a few hundred thousand, but even this was a dangerous number of people to have gathered in one spot. The more people there were in an area the more likely it was that monsters would be drawn to them, this was something even a small child knew but before the System humans hadn’t had to deal with monsters so when they started to appear in human cities the population would’ve been wiped out in a matter of days or possibly even hours due to the number and power of the monsters that would have been summoned which explained why dungeons were often found in the ruins of human cities.

Continuing on their way towards the monolithic structures they eventually saw a wall that seemed to be made from the same material that the ruins were made of.

Yuliah nodded as they turned to look at her, “There it is; the Dungeon Town of Greenhearth.”